


Long Time Gone

by orphan_account



Category: Firefly
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-01-12
Updated: 2009-01-12
Packaged: 2017-10-02 04:30:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mal and Jayne cross paths, years after they went their separate ways.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Long Time Gone

Like the old cliche, it's a face he would recognize anywhere. And he does, even across the crowd, even through the smog, though it doesn't look like time has been really be good to either one of them.

It seems odd that Jayne comes right up to him, shaking his hand, looking him in the eye, making with the pleasantries, given how they left things last (a double-cross--oldest trick in the book--intercepted wave, switched shipments, and even though Jayne didn't leave them in a position to be picked up by the Feds, they still had to high-tail it out of there on full burn, and never do business on that planet again).

Mal isn't through gaping stupidly, so he doesn't have time to flat refuse when Jayne asks him if he wants to go get a drink. Not that he wanted to refuse, anyhow. So then there he is, in the back booth of a smoky bar, drink in hand, across from a man for whom he's worked up any number of strongly-worded speeches he never got to give.

Jayne seems fine just to go on for awhile, and he doesn't ask any specific questions about why Mal's here, what he's doing, where he's going--which Mal takes as a kindness, because you never know who's listening in these parts, and he doesn't have the energy to lie.

Still, Mal feels like he should say something, if only out of politeness.

"So, you, uh--?" He's not sure what he's trying to ask, on account of Jayne maybe being here under circumstances similar to himself.

"Married? Yeah," Jayne replies, which makes Mal realize, if nothing else, what he **hadn't** been asking.

"Got captures of the littl'ins" right here, too," Jayne adds, reaching behind him in a move that years ago would have sent Mal going for his gun.

Jayne hands over the captures and Mal takes them numbly, turning them over in his hands. They look, he thinks, exactly like what you'd expect Jayne's children to look like: a girl around ten with messy hair, strong arms, a kind of coltish beauty. The boy looks barely a touch younger, and he has an odd elegance about him--sharp eyes, thin lips, a sort of regal-looking nose. Predictably, they're both holding guns and looking proud of themselves.

Mal says all the usual things you say in a situation like that, just going on auto-pilot--and luckily, that's all the time it takes for Jayne to swallow down the last of his drink and make polite excuses to leave. Mal walks him out with excuses of his own, and when they get to the main street, Mal goes the opposite way Jayne does, even though it's going to be longer.

Back at the ship, Book asks him if he's 'troubled' and Mal curses being so transparent to the man.

"No more'n usual, Shepherd," he replies, too tired to make it sound as flippant as he would like. "Just ran into your old bench press partner. Seems this is where he's put down stakes."

Book gapes at him a moment, but recovers quickly. Mal knows he's doing a quick mental inventory for signs of a brawl, or worse.

"So . . . he's not . . . ?" Book doesn't seem to be able to finish that sentence, so Mal goes ahead and has mercy on him.

"Gettin' what's coming to him? Payin' his debt to society?"

"Yes, that's . . . what I meant," Book says carefully. "That's . . . good though, isn't it?"

Mal thinks on it a moment. "Yeah, Shepherd," he says, shaking his head. "All in all, I suppose it is."


End file.
